Twin City Photos

After following @uptownmarket on twitter for a while, I decided to visit the Uptown Market yesterday to have a look around. What I found was a variety of food stands, some crafts, and even a musician. After stopping at a few stands and taking photos, I was approached by Jessa of Sweet M’s Farms. For a moment I thought I was going to get the ‘no photos please’, but instead got a friendly invitation to shoot away. So refreshing someone recognized I wasn’t an industrial spy.

A short friendly conversation and I continued on. All the veggies looked delicious, but I was especially longing for the cucumbers which looked just perfect. Not the long thick cucumbers on steroids you typically find at grocery stores, with seeds the size of pumpkin seeds , but instead pickle sized, nicely filled out so they didn’t look like baby cactuses (I know this is incorrect but even having taken Latin over in Deutschland there’s some words I just can’t get myself to say no matter how correct). Perfect for peeling, slicing, and marinating in Italian dressing. Or just peeled and sliced lengthwise with a little salt and pepper. As I was on my way to a family reunion I didn’t get any. Next time.

This photo shows Trinette from the ‘Salsa De Jasinto’ booth, selling a variety of Salsas. Super friendly, she offered samples of everything, but I stuck with the mild versions. Delicious as expected. Next time I’ll try some of the hotter stuff.

Talking of friendly, everyone was, very. Something a certain outdoor market not to far from this one could use a few lessons on. It makes a difference. To me anyway.

Odd title, isn’t it? I was sitting around watching the animal channel on cable, something about the ‘Monster Inside Me’, a show about disgusting parasites that invade your body, while keeping a eye on twitter on my computer. @MNHeadhunter said ‘Please someone in Minneapolis get a pic of this amazing sky/sunset … ‘. Looked outside and saw a cool sunset indeed, as we often get after some severe weather moves through the area. So grabbed camera and headed to top of hill where I have a great view looking out west. Here’s there result.

Or Bayerische Staatskanzlei in German. Walking around after dinner on a recent trip to Germany, I found this historic building at the end of the Hofgarten on Ludwigstrasse in Munich.

Saw this thunderstorm on the way back from a weekend at our camper up north. You could easily see its explosive growth by just watching it for few seconds. The anvil at the top of the cloud forms when the top of the thunderstorm reaches high enough to get caught in the upper level winds.

Today was the first day in months I actually headed out on the spur of the moment with no specific destination, to take some photos. Work is finally settling down as far as high pressure projects are concerned, and I’m done with the trips to Germany (maybe one more time). I’ll miss Munich, a bustling chique city. Sorta got used to the place, the beer gardens, food, autobahn, blondes (looking only!).

This shot was taken at the Minnesota river, at the Black Dog Road. I was planning to drive over to the Cedar Avenue bridge, but the road was closed because of flooding. The river is in flood stage right now, with all the rains we’ve had recently.

Down at the river’s edge I noticed this interesting setting, cinder block as a chair, empty beer bottle next to it. I used the flash to fill in the scene, the idea being that you should barely be able to notice the use of the flash, if at all. The pros of course can’t be fooled.

That’s what the speedometer in this Ferrari went up to. Now most cars will never quite make the posted top speed unless they’re going downhill with a tailwind, but they get pretty close. So how fast is 320 km/hr? About 200 mph. That’s about 60 mph faster than I’ve gone on the Autobahn. You really need to pay attention to the road at those speeds, and be sure your brakes are in top notch condition

Taken a while back in Munich at the Hauptbahnhof.